Improved Concussive Shot
2 Point Talent
Description: Increases the duration of your Concussive Shot’s daze effect by 1/2 sec.
Overview
This talent was changed in Patch 3.0.2 to increase the length of the daze effect on the target, as opposed to the chance on hit to stun the target. Prior to that patch, this was actually a fairly decent talent for PvP. This talent basically just extends the 50% slow of Concussive Shot to 5 or 6 seconds, up from 4.
Who needs it?
No one really. I suppose there are those who like to utilize it for PvP, but there are just so many other more beneficial talents I feel that you could spend points on instead of this. I have debated grabbing it from time to time, but I can never justify dropping points in another talent in order to take this one. 4 seconds of daze is plenty for me along with our other tools to create distance.
Who doesn’t need it?
Refer to “Who needs it?”
Focused Aim
3 Point Talent
Description: Reduces the pushback suffered from damaging attacks while casting Steady Shot by 23/46/70%, and increases your chance to hit by 1/2/3%.
Overview
This talent lessens the interrupts you may receive while casting Steadies “if” you’re taking damage. It also increases your hit % by 1, 2 or 3 depending on how many points you invest.
Who needs it?
Hunters who are under the hit cap. If gems, enchants and racial traits don’t get you to 8%, then you need to put points in here. If you’re way under the cap, then go 3/3. If you only need less than a percent or two, then simply throw 1 or 2 points in here.
Remember, Hunters need to have at least +8% hit because Blizz rounds down to the nearest whole number when it calculates our pet hit. While 7.98% might be good enough for you to not miss, the 7% that your pet will be getting will not cut it. Just throw as many points as necessary in here to reach the desired hit cap of 8%.
The pushback bit is pretty lame if you ask me. I can’t really see any instance where this talent would be worthwhile without the added hit %. In PvE, if you’re taking damage you’ll most likely want to reposition yourself outside of where it is you’re standing. You’re probably not going to just stand there and cast Steadies while a meteor shower is reigning down on you, but then again, maybe that’s your style. 😉
“Your meteors don’t scare me..! Watch as I remain mostly uninterrupted by these attacks enabling me to unleash the wrath of my lowest priority shot with little pushback. FEAR THE STEADY!!!”
In PvP you utilize mostly instant cast shots, so the pushback prevention is pretty useless here too. Steady is a really low priority shot in PvP. Of course, I’m thinking mainly of arena. In BGs you may be able to sit back in your group and settle into your raid rotation, but anytime you are able to do this, you’re probably not taking damage anyway. At any rate, my point is, take this talent for the +hit and nothing else.
As you obtain more +hit via gear, just re-apportion points from here into other talents as needed.
Who doesn’t need it?
Anyone who is hit capped already.
Lethal Shots
5 Point Talent
Description: Increases your critical strike chance with ranged weapons by 1/2/3/4/5%.
Overview
Not much to explain here… this talent increases your crit rating with ranged weapons by up to 5%.
Who needs it?
All Hunters should grab this talent. Our primary tool of destruction is our ranged weapon. Adding 5% crit is a no-brainer. For PvE and PvP this talent is mandatory.
Who doesn’t need it?
Eventually all Hunters should have this talent, but there is one case where I would forego taking it. This would be if you are leveling. It is wise to wait awhile before picking this talent up as the additional crit will give you more burst, thus pulling the aggro off of your pet.
When leveling, just fortify Fluffy’s ass-kicking abilities first before you start to boost your own ranged weapon damage. I would probably wait at least until somewhere around level 35 before taking it.
> To me, Focused Aim is a
> tier one talent for a reason
That is true: FAim is absolutely necessary if you start doing heroics while still gearing for +HIT. On my server is very common to see freshly dinged 80’s in green/blue stuff just go LFG any heroic. That “can” work for DPS but it will almost always result in a bad wipe when green-geared tanks/healers pretend to go “hero mode!”.
A hunter with low/zero +hit will be a bad bad bad dps member of the party, making the fights longer and the life of tank/healer harder. In that case, go for FAim.
Note #1: A hunter with low/zero +hit should *NEVER* pretend to join a heroic…
Note #2: it’s 10.30 a.m. here and I am HUNGRY lol… I’ll go out to get something good to eat. My wife is out with little Philip so I was left alone to my destiny 😛
Note #3: did you consider adding a IIRC chat to your blog? Just an idea, sometimes is nice to interact. We will never be able to meet ingame, sadly.
To me, Focused Aim is a tier one talent for a reason. If +hit were that difficult to obtain in end-game, this talent would be further down the tree. I feel it’s at the top for a reason, and that’s to bolster Hunters’ hit rating before they’re geared enough to reach the cap.
In short, I agree with Dalaila. But again, different strokes for different folks.
Seshiro and Rilgon have both made good arguments against my criticism of certain talents. I understand their points, but I’m still unwavering in my belief that the 2 or 3 points may be better spent elsewhere.
It’s not to say they’re “garbage” talents, it’s just that when it comes to taking them, I’m looking further down the tree to the money talents.
> Plus I personally feel that gearing for
> 5% hit and using 3/3 FAim allows you to
> get more of the nommy goodness that
> you want (AP, Crit, maybe ArPen) and
> think less about Hit.
I would say that’s true for freshly dinged 80’s but… considering that level 80 stuff (blue/purple) already offers a lot of +hit, that 3/3 in FAim means you lose a precious “firepower” points somewhere else. It can really help you in early heroic runs BUT it will affect your DPS if you do not place these 3/3 in more “damage oriented” places, right?
Definitely good points.
These posts are working as intended. I encourage and welcome your input. Many of you are more experienced than I when it comes to raiding.
I haven’t encountered Ignis yet. I’ve cooled it on the raiding for a bit, focusing more on PvP. It’s a little easier for me to manage a flexible BG/Arena schedule, than it is for me to commit to 2-3hr raids.
I do however look forward to progressing through Ulduar. It’s just difficult for my “casual” little guild to get 10 geared people on at once. 🙁
Your site is great by the way. Thank you for your input here. 🙂
I would say that the pushback resistance of Focused Aim has its place, for sure. Look at, say, Ignis – you can Steady through a Flame Jets without any spell lockout, but the Jets will put a .5 second pushback on that Steady. With 3/3 FAim, it becomes .15 seconds.
Plus I personally feel that gearing for 5% hit and using 3/3 FAim allows you to get more of the nommy goodness that you want (AP, Crit, maybe ArPen) and think less about Hit. 😛
(copied from earlier post, just thought it should be under the appropriate topic for the benefit of other readers)
Comment to Improved concussive shot, I chose this talent on my Build for a few reasons:
1. I hate partial talenting of anything, thats my OCD taking control of my toon, however I may be taking 1 point out of thick hide for 1 point in Imp hawk very soon.
2. I have found great synergy with this using steady shot, I can snap off 3 easily during the daze, and with the glyph thats even more bonus damage, I actually have an inside friend at Blizzard and they are actually fixing concussive to work on ALL mobs that can be affected by Serpent Sting, they had intended this kind of synergy all along, you may be surprised on how many mobs that can already be affected by this shot.
3. In raids and instances 6 seconds can give a tank precious time to pull a mob away from the healer. (not to mention being very useful for slowing down Zombie Chow headed for Gluth)
Dalaila,
I’m pretty sure that’s covered in the post, but thanks for lookin’ out for me. 🙂
@ Gar
> Remember, Hunters need
> to have at least +8%
Do not forget the Draenei effect (+1% hit bonus to all party members). It’s party wide (wont affect the whole raid) 😉
Awesome Dave. Glad you like it!
Just found your blog today and I love it! Been reading through your old posts and it is very enjoyable. Just wanted to drop this line and tell you that you have another reader! 🙂